City reps support staff increases in engineering, land use

Kate King

Published 9:46 pm, Thursday, January 23, 2014

STAMFORD -- Directors from the city's overworked engineering and land-use departments are hoping the Stamford's new mayor will be sympathetic to their pleas for more staff as he prepares his first budget proposal.

"Right now, these gentlemen need the staffing to do the jobs that they have to do," said city Rep. John Zelinsky, D-11.

Casolo said his department has been overwhelmed since six employees were laid off in 2010. The reduction was part of former Mayor Michael Pavia's first budget proposal, which laid off 49 city workers in total. Officials later said the layoffs saved $5.5 million.

But the savings came at a price for Casolo, who said he is struggling to keep up with all the construction projects underway in Stamford. The engineering director said he has requested additional staff in next year's budget.

"We're sort of at a point in our history where there's a lot of private development going on," Casolo told the panel.

Land Use Bureau Chief Norman Cole said he has also asked for funding to fill two positions in his department: transportation planner and Environmental Protection Board executive director.

The board lost its executive director in the 2010 budget cuts and currently operates with two full-time staff members. The director position is needed to help the department handle its complex workload, especially in light of the ongoing Harbor Point development in Stamford's South End, Cole said.

"Look at the whole South End and the significance of public waterfront access planning," Cole said. "All of those kinds of higher-level policy-making and decision-making need an executive director."

A transportation planner is needed to oversee the myriad traffic projects in process across the city, such as the Long Ridge and High Ridge roads corridor studies and transit-oriented development studies for the Springdale and Glenbrook train stations, he said.

"I'm sure we're going to come away with some required improvements to sidewalks and intersections and streets," Cole said. "The transportation planner would be the one who would pick up the ball after the planning is done, and set priorities and acquire funding."

All transportation projects across the city are now being handled by Traffic Engineer Mani Poola.

"He is doing the job of 10 people," Cole said.

Committee members agreed the city needs a transportation planner.

"Some of the biggest issues facing this city are transportation-related, and we have no one in charge of that," said city Rep. Cynthia Reeder, D-11.

"We worry about the Police Department, we worry about the Fire Department, which are all very important," Coppola said. "But these departments also affect quality of life."

Several members expressed concern about supporting the addition of new positions without knowing the associated cost, however.

"I don't know if it's premature to support increasing staffing if I don't have any numbers to make that determination," said city Rep. Dennis Mahoney, R-20.

On Thursday, Cole said the two positions he requested would each pay salaries of $102,000, making the total cost of his staffing request $204,000. Casolo was out of the office Thursday and unavailable to answer questions about how much his staffing requests would cost.

Even without knowing the exact numbers, the Operations Committee voted -- four members in favor, one opposed and three abstaining -- to support the departments' staffing requests. Zelinsky said he will now ask the full 40-member Board of Representatives to sign on to the resolution before he sends it to the mayor and Board of Finance members.

Mayor David Martin, who is at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., this week, could not be reached for comment Thursday. On the campaign trail this summer, however, he expressed strong support for restoring the city's transportation planner.

Director of Administration Michael Handler said it's possible Martin's first budget proposal will add several new city positions.

"I would be not surprised if there was a limited increase in head count," Handler said. "As always, it's very difficult to balance the need for greater staff with the desire to keep taxes low for taxpayers."